Two UNC-Chapel Hill doctoral graduates, representing the fields of history and biology, will be the featured speakers at the third annual Sequoyah Distinguished Lecture on March 21.
The free public event will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Carolina Inn’s Hill Ballroom. A reception will follow.
Mikaëla Adams, who received her Ph.D. in history, is an assistant professor of Native American history at the University of Mississippi. Her research addresses questions of political identity and national belonging in southeastern American Indian tribes in the late 19th and 20th centuries. She examines how tribes repurposed older notions of kinship and culture to create new criteria of belonging that met the challenges of living in a world defined by racial classifications.
Jennifer Taylor, who received her Ph.D. in biology, is an assistant professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Her research centers on the diverse functions of the exoskeleton, including structural support, locomotion, body armor and sound production. She is especially interested in correlations among exoskeleton morphology and function, molting physiology, and environmental adaptations.
The Sequoyah Distinguished Lecture is connected with the Sequoyah Dissertation Fellowship, within the Royster Society of Fellows—The Graduate School’s most selective fellowship program.
Adams and Taylor both were recipients of fellowships within the Royster Society of Fellows. Both also served as president of the First Nations Graduate Circle, a graduate and professional student organization that provides advocacy, support, professional development, mentoring and other enrichment opportunities to American Indians campuswide.
The lecture event is part of The Graduate School’s American Indian Graduate Student Recruitment Event, which will take place March 21 and 22.
“One of the most compelling aspects of this annual lecture is that we bring together speakers who are Carolina alumni from very different research fields,” said Sandra Hoeflich, Ph.D., associate dean for interdisciplinary education, fellowships and communication at The Graduate School. “The speakers share fascinating information about their research—and also about the community that supported their success at Carolina. This promises to be a special evening.”
The event’s sponsors are The Graduate School and First Nations Graduate Circle.
